Anti corruption movement cannot be sacrificed at the altar of dirty tricks

If the media is to be believed, Anna Hazare’s movement for Janlokpal, supported by India Against Corruption’s Arvind Kejriwal, the father and son Bhushan duo and Kiran Bedi is a fragmented lot now. A disconcerting number of analysts and commentators, who had put their weight behind the movement a few months ago, have started finding faults with the shape it is taking.

For a team that could do nothing wrong just a few months ago, it seems they can get nothing right now. First, Kejriwal, the livewire behind the movement really, was quoted as saying that Anna is above parliament and then Prashant Bhushan was thrashed inside his own chamber in the Supreme Court premises for speaking in favour of the Kashmiris right to decide their future.

We are a nation that has been brainwashed into believing that the parliament is sacrosanct. I say brainwashed, since some of the worst shenanigans that ail this nation are played out within the circular walls of that building. Given that, Arvind’s statement was a complete no no. I have little doubt that what was finally commented upon and believed by a lot of people was a twisted version. But that did not matter. For those, and that number is very big, who are uncomfortable with Arvind’s meteoric rise, this was an opportunity to browbeat him with. And they made the best of the opportunity.

Similarly, Prashant Bhushan, the legal brain behind the movement and someone who has the respect of his peers as also the judiciary for his legal acumen (as well as his activist style), earned the wrath of the very people who supported him by speaking the unacceptable on Kashmir. Just like Parliament is sacrosanct, Kashmir is an unalienable part of the country and any statement that goes against this view is unacceptable to the masses.

Given that, while I was taken aback by the slipper attack on Arvind and the pretty vicious attack on Bhushan, I was not surprised. The nation is far too touchy about some emotive issues and when you have several detractors who would add fuel to any fire that can help them, such a situation was not beyond the realm of possibility.

I have often said that the so called Team Anna are NOT full time employees of IAC or any anti-corruption movement. Instead, they are individuals who have come together in their individual capacity for a cause. Given so, they are entitled to have their views on issues that are not related to corruption. However, while that may be the right approach, by the book if I may add, the truth is that when you acquire such a high profile in a movement, you must also weigh every utterance you make. The sensitivities of the very people who support you can never be trifled with. Prashant’s statement on Kashmir and Arvind’s on Anna being above parliament clearly failed on that parameter.

Apart from this, a lot of supporters also felt uncomfortable with the teams’s open support (or against) some of the candidates in the just concluded bypolls. This act took the sheen off the apolitical image the movement had so far projected. While they may have tried to say they were opposed to anyone not supporting Janlokpal, given that the media is no longer as supportive as it once was, the message that went across was not what the movement leaders had expected.

Not surprisingly, the hawks, waiting to discredit the movement are having a field day, and I am not even referring to the likes of Digvijay Singh, or the government’s plants in the movement like Swami Agnivesh. I am referring to the general perception that gains ground due to such negative reports day in and day out.

It has been a movement that had taken the nation by storm. It would be a pity if it is allowed to peter off by playing into the hands of those who want the status quo on corruption to remain. Worse, discrediting it would kill the spirit of the common man who thought they can be the agent of change. A cause is always bigger than an individual and it must not be sacrificed at the altar of dirty tricks.

Author

Rajesh Kalra is the Chief Editor of Times Internet and business head for the non-English languages properties. A journalist for two decades, he also tried his hands at entrepreneurship in between. Although he has written on several subjects, he has a weakness for IT and telecommunications. He is an avid sportsman, a trained high-altitude mountaineer, a passionate mountain biker and a marathoner. His blog, Random Access, will cover issues that take into account these varied interests.
Follow @rajeshkalra on Twitter

Rajesh Kalra is the Chief Editor of Times Internet and business head for the non-English languages properties. A journalist for two decades, he also tried h. . .